Melbourne: Upto 2000 women, mostly Asians, are trafficked into Australia every year, and are being effectively forced to work as sex slaves in Sydney and Melbourne, a new study has revealed. According to a five-year study by Julie Hepworth, Associate Professor at University of Queensland, most of the victims are young Asians, who are being duped into working in brothels and seedy red light dens in the two cities.

“Many have been forced or tricked into being trafficked in the sex industry from a young age and have no knowledge of anything else,” a website quoted Hepworth, as saying.

“They also fear deportation because they face being ostracised by their home communities,” she added.The study found that government services available to trafficked women was "sparse, uncoordinated and poorly funded".

Hepworth said that in the past this was because government help was mostly made available to women that co-operated with police investigating people smugglers and traffickers.

“Although that changed in 2009, there is still a greater emphasis placed on catching the traffickers, rather than helping women they bring into Australia,” she added.

Hepworth also called for greater co-ordination between governments and non-government organisations to provide better services for trafficked women.